 Short Stories: September 08, 2010 Issue [#3958] |
  Short Stories
This week: Publishing Stories in the 21st Century Edited by: Ben Langhinrichs  
More Newsletters By This Editor 
1. About this Newsletter
2. A Word from our Sponsor
3. Letter from the Editor
4. Editor's Picks
5. A Word from Writing.Com
6. Ask & Answer
7. Removal instructions
Greetings! I am one of the editors for the Short Stories Newsletter, and I hope to share some of my thoughts on writing short stories, and perhaps about writing in general. I suggest you treat these not as pearls of wisdom dropped from on high, but rather musings of a fellow writer, written to inspire, provoke or stimulate your personal muse. I welcome your thoughts, feedback and suggestions.
~ Ben Langhinrichs
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Publishing Short Stories in the 21st Century
I read a lot of stories on Writing.com, and I read a lot of profiles as well. I find it interesting when I read a story that has been rated by many, many people, and clearly read by even more, by an author who claims to be unpublished.
There was a time not too long ago when "being published" was a relatively simple concept. Aside from paying a vanity publisher to print booklets for you to give to family and friends, you had to get to an editor to accept a story before they would publish it in a newspaper, magazine or anthology.
Those days are past. That is not to say that the newspapers, magazines and anthologies aren't out there, and an excellent way to get your writing in front of readers. They are simply not exclusive in the way they once were. As more and more magazines become e-zines, the line between publishing in them and putting your work up on WDC or your blog is getting fuzzier. Self-publishing is another new wrinkle as individuals can decide to publish a story or book of poetry or novel as an eBook, or arrange for a POD (print-on-demand) publisher to carry it on Amazon.
Let me give two examples from my own experience.
Self-publishing: As an experiment, I self-published a longish short story on Smashwords. Take a look at If Not Mistaken . I formatted an MS Word document, created a cover, and assigned a price, 99 cents. It took me an nour or so to create the cover and format the document. And guess what, people do visit the page, and some buy it. Self-publishing is publishing without the editor. Many stories on Smashwords are absolutely free, so you can find readers without charging a cent.
Publishing on WDC: A while back, I put a collection of poems up on Writing.com. I promoted it to some degree, and it got a certain amount of word-of-mouth interest. You can take a look at Variations - 'The Road Not Taken' . I know it is poetry and not a story, but that collection has gotten 3,637 views as of today. I have had 26 stories and 27 poems published via the more mainstream magazines and e-zines, and I doubt that one of them has been read by over 3000 readers. On-line publishing is also publishing without the editor. It may not be a good revenue source, but few magazines or e-zines are either, unless you have broken through into the semi-pro and pro markets.
You should also realize that on-line publishing is considered publishing by many mainstream magazines and e-zines, so if you have it up on your blog or on WDC without restrictions, they often won't accept it or will consider it a reprint.
My conclusion from all this is NOT that you should skip submitting to mainstream magazines and e-zines. The selectivity of the editors has helped me tremendously, and it can help you too. Self-publishing without any other effort will not get you readers, just as publishing a story on WDC will not automatically get you readers. But self promotion is key to almost all publishing these days. Even fairly well known authors spend a lot of time making sure their name and books are out there being seen and discussed. That is how they got to be well known, for the most part. You can start that practice here in Writing.com or with self-publishing through Amazon, Smashwords or other venues.
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Editor's Picks
Since we can't see how many readers other people's stories have on Writing.com, I am using the number of ratings as a rough gauge. Most people don't rate each story they read, so the number of readers is likely to be at least four to five times the number of raters, possibly many more.
Romance/Love with 713 ratings
Action/Adventure with 172 ratings
Comedy with 137 ratings
Drama with 1048 ratings (Yowza! Highest number of ratings for a short story on WDC)
Satire with 396 ratings
Holiday with 301 ratings
Crime/Gangster with 210 ratings
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Have an opinion on what you've read here today? Then send the Editor feedback! Find an item that you think would be perfect for showcasing here? Submit it for consideration in the newsletter!
https://www.Writing.Com/go/nl_form
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Feedback on my previous Short Stories newsletter: "Too Much Backstory in the Front" by Ben Langhinrichs
Lorien  Ben, are you saying that soon WDC will have a Novel Newsletter? 
Sorry, I've heard no rumors (except the ones I've started) above a Novel Newsletter. But, hey, write the StoryMaster and ask.
LJPC - the tortoise Hi Ben!
You made such a good point about front-loading the backstory. I see this all the time and it drives me crazy. Nothing makes me click away faster than three or four long paragraphs of narrative explaining the character, the world, or whatever the character's whining about.
If you're a GREAT writer, you might get away with that in a novel because every word, metaphore, or observation is gold. But those writers are few and far between. As you pointed out, short stories are too short for that. Sometimes when I'm reading, I'm yelling in my head "Get to the point already!" More often than not, before the echo in my skull dies down, I just click away... -- Laura
Leger~  "The idiots are busy out causing trouble or falling asleep in front of the boob tube..." Loved the newsletter Ben!
Doug Rainbow Ben, this newsletter on backstory put that element in a new perspective. Not only is this NL helpful, but it is so damn readable. I applaud both the content and the writing.
Ah, shucks! 
DePayne I love this newsletter!! I am thrilled that "The Dog Around the Corner" by Endless Enigma was an Editor's Pick as I had read it previously and loved it!!!
jackflash There's an awful lot of "how to" (or more precisely "how not to") here on writing.com. Look, man, you ain't gonna get paid for writing anything anyway. Write it your own way and if someone likes it, great! If the learned critics of this site want to tear it to pieces, let 'em. Hey, you had fun writing it, they had fun criticising, everybody's happy! (Personally, I like backstory, but that's just me, probably.)
w
I dunno. I've gotten paid for eleven stories in 2010. In any case, thanks for the perspective.
NickiD89  Great blend of humor and tips for beginning a short story. I enjoyed your NL, Ben!
spidey  Great advice! I tend to appreciate and feel more connected in short stories that start off right in the action! Good newsletter! 
saraiv Loved this newsletter. I'm always worrying about boring my reader. One reason is because I'm always looking for another story to read if the first sentence doesn't catch my interest. Thank you for writing about it in a very humorous way!
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